Government to pay up to €184,000 for the referendum ballot boxes

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan Government published an announcement on Tuesday in its Official Journal inviting companies to bid to supply ballot boxes for the independence referendum. The executive needs up to 8,000 ballot boxes and is offering to pay up to €184,000. Companies will have 15 days to show their interest in providing them, and the Government will choose the best offer. In the same public call for tenders the Generalitat is also offering €16,000 for cardboard ballot boxes. The announcement is the first step towards the celebration of the independence referendum. The Catalan Government is expected to announce a date for the vote before summer. Catalans were promised an independence referendum by autumn 2017. 

The public call for tenders, signed by the Ministry of Government, aims to “supply ballot boxes for the elections to the Catalan Parliament, public consultation, and other forms of citizen participation”. Therefore, and according to sources from the Catalan Government, the announcement is totally legal because Catalonia has the competence to organize such votes, in line with the Organic Law 5/195, the Catalan Statue of Autonomy, and the laws 4/2010 of popular consultations, 10/2014 of popular consultations and others forms of citizen’s participation, and the law 2/1980 to regulate different types of referenda. 

At a press conference in Madrid last week, Spanish Government spokesman, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, warned that the prosecutor would intervene if the Catalan Government takes steps towards buying ballot boxes. “Without a doubt,” he insisted, adding that any moves towards organizing a referendum are banned by a Constitutional Court ruling of last February.